Daybreak Games Pulls the Plug on EverQuest Next

If you were looking forward to the release of EverQuest Next, the I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The games developer, Daybreak Games, has revealed that they’ve made the tough decision to pull the plug on their project, stating that the game would not meet the expectations that they or their fans would have had. This is not the best news at all and it’s a shame to see them fall so far into the project; aat least they stopped rather than release a product that was not up to a good standard.

Daybreak games President Russ Shanks released the following statement:

“To Our Daybreak Community,

I’m writing today to let you know that, after much review and consideration, Daybreak is discontinuing development of EverQuest Next.

For the past 20 years EverQuest has been a labor of love. What started as a deep passion of ours, as game creators, grew into a much larger passion shared by you, millions of players and Daybreakers alike. Watching EverQuest’s ability to entertain and bring people together has inspired and humbled us. It’s shaped our culture and has emboldened us to take aggressive risks with our game ideas and products. When we decided to create the next chapter in the EverQuest journey, we didn’t aim low. We set out to make something revolutionary.

For those familiar with the internals of game development, you know that cancellations are a reality we must face from time to time. Inherent to the creative process are dreaming big, pushing hard and being brutally honest with where you land. In the case of EverQuest Next, we accomplished incredible feats that astonished industry insiders. Unfortunately, as we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn’t fun. We know you have high standards when it comes to Norrath and we do too. In final review, we had to face the fact that EverQuest Nextwould not meet the expectations we – and all of you – have for the worlds of Norrath.

The future of the EverQuest franchise as a whole is important to us here at Daybreak.EverQuest in all its forms is near and dear to our hearts. EverQuest and EverQuest II are going strong. Rest assured that our passion to grow the world of EverQuest remains undiminished.

Yours truly,
Russell Shanks
President, Daybreak Games”

The team aren’t giving up on the franchise yet, and their passion for EverQuest will continue. How they will move on remains to be seen, but it’s likely they’ll start a new project from scratch, so stay tuned for an update from the team later in the year.